Home sales rise, prices drop in Orange, Ulster

Sales of single-family homes increased in Orange County last month compared to August 2011, while the median price was markedly lower than a year earlier.

James Walsh

Sales of single-family homes increased in Orange County last month compared to August 2011, while the median price was markedly lower than a year earlier.

There were 185 sales last month, up from 166 a year before, and up from the 154 sales in July, according to figures supplied by the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service.

The median price, meanwhile, fell to $237,000, down from $270,000 in August 2011. The median sale price in July was $254,000.

Home sales in Ulster County increased modestly in August, to 104, from 98 in August 2011, according to the Ulster County Board of Realtors. The median sale price was $203,750 last month, and $205,000 in August 2011.

Sullivan County figures were unavailable Tuesday.

A potential bright spot in the Orange County figures was the growing number of single-family houses that are under contract. That figure was 545 last month, up from 413 a year earlier, indicating that house sales could continue to increase in coming months.

The number of houses under contract rose across the country in July to the highest point since April 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors. The association predicts an 8 percent to 9 percent increase in existing homes sales nationally in 2012, and a cumulative increase of 10 percent over the next two years.